


Coming Back

by orphan_account



Category: Supernatural
Genre: M/M, Sabriel - Freeform, Songfic, heat of the moment
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-10-13
Updated: 2015-10-13
Packaged: 2018-04-26 05:46:08
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,561
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4992586
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Gabriel's been watching and waiting for a long time. It's time to stop hiding.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Coming Back

Gabriel could still remember the first time he’d come across the Winchesters. He’d been having a little fun on a college campus, giving professors and students what they had coming to them, when those two knuckleheads had shown up to ruin the fun. It was strange, though. There was something intriguing about them. They didn’t seem ready to just accept things, even then.

Of course, Gabriel had known who they were. He’d always known who they were.

What he didn’t know was how taken with the taller one he’d be.

**I never meant to be so bad to you  
One thing I said that I would never do**

Sam Winchester. Strange, how a mortal man could capture the imagination of an Archangel older than the Earth itself. Gabriel had known from the beginning that Sam wouldn’t want to hurt him; Sam never wanted to hurt anyone. Even when Gabriel had been posing as the Trickster, he knew Sam would prefer to try to talk him out of doing anything than killing him to stop him, which was why Gabriel had sworn not to hurt him.

Turns of events led in a different direction though. Sam was hell-bent on destroying himself to save Dean, and Gabriel couldn’t have that. He knew it would be painful, but he had had to put Sam in the time loop for his own good – so he would realize that saving Dean couldn’t be his priority; he had to learn to survive on his own.

Gabriel wondered if Sam even paid attention to the song that played when he woke up.

**A look from you and I would fall from grace  
And that would wipe the smile right from my face**

And then there had been the assembly of gods. Kali, whom Gabriel loved, if not in the same way anymore, had been there. Baldur, Mercury, Thor, the others, all bent on using the Winchesters as bait, as bargaining chips with Lucifer. Of course, Gabriel had known Lucifer wasn’t the bargaining type, which would spell death for all the assembled gods.

It would also surely spell death for the Winchesters. For Sam.

Gabriel couldn’t have that, no matter how he tried to explain the situation to himself.

And of course those boneheads had a plan. It was a suicide mission, really, and Gabriel was dead-set against it. He made that clear to them. (Seriously, who the hell would try to trick _Kali?_ It was stupid.) But, of course, a look from Sam was all it took to make him change his mind. That was it.

He couldn’t believe himself, couldn’t believe that all it took was for one giant of a man to look at him the right way and he was willing to put himself on the line.

**Do you remember when we used to dance?  
And incidents arose from circumstance**

Gabriel wondered if they even remembered him. It had been six years, after all.

Six years since the Apocalypse. Six years since Lucifer had been freed. Six years since Gabriel had faked his own death.

In hind sight, he thought it wasn’t very smart of him to run and hide like that. He should have told Sam he was alive, should have told them in person about the rings, should have stepped up to help Castiel against Raphael. All this that he should have done, and the only one he was here to apologize for was for not telling Sam he was still around.

**One thing led to another we were young  
And we would scream together songs unsung**

All that nonsense in these last six years: Gabriel’s hiding out in Heaven, Eve, Leviathan, the Fall. Gabriel remembered watching from Heaven as Sam took on the Trials to close Hell. He remembered being terrified of what the Trials were turning Sam into. He remembered wondering if Sam was actually going to go through with it.

He remembered wondering how quickly he’d be able to find Sam’s Heaven at the end of it.

**It was the heat of the moment**  
**Telling me what my heart meant**  
 **The heat of the moment showed in your eyes**

This trip had been spur-of-the-moment.

They were always spur-of-the-moment around the Winchesters.

Winchesters show up in the college town where Gabriel is passing around just-desserts? Mess with them too.

Realize Sam won’t get his head out of his ass and realize that at some point he’s going to have to go on without Dean? Put him in Groundhog Day to try to knock some sense into him. Naturally, that doesn’t work.

Realize those two stooges won’t say yes to Michael and Lucifer? Teach them they have to play their parts to survive. That goes through marginally better than the last lesson he tried to teach. (Well, maybe not.)

Figure out a group of gods wants to try to use the Winchesters as bargaining chips with Lucifer, when Lucifer could rip into those gods as if they were made of rice paper? Get them the hell out of there. (To save the gods. To save Kali. That had been the end game. (That was a lie.))

Never, ever, ever, did he have a chance to plan these scenarios all the way through. They were always last minute decisions, or decisions he made exactly thirty seconds before they were put into effect.

At some level, he thought Sam knew they weren’t planned.

**And now you find yourself in ‘82**  
**The disco hot spots hold no charm for you**  
 **You can concern yourself with bigger things**  
 **You catch a pearl and ride the dragon’s wings**

As if that weren’t enough, Sam never seemed to want to _live_ in the moment. Sure, he’d go out to bars, but he wouldn’t actually do anything. Always concerned about the bigger picture: how to stop the Apocalypse, how to put the Leviathans back where they came from, how to close the gates of Hell.

Hell, he’d helped put Eve away too.

Gabriel admired all that, sure, but would it kill the asshole to cut loose once in a while?

**‘Cause it’s the heat of the moment**  
**Heat of the moment**  
 **The heat of the moment showed in your eyes**

No, Sam couldn’t cut loose. Or wouldn’t. Gabriel had to admit he did admire that, to a certain degree, like he had to admire everything about the hunter.

He could think on his feet.

He could come up with a viable plan with little time to consider.

Hell, he came up with plans when there weren’t many resources to work with.

And how did that kid always have wifi?

Gabriel certainly didn’t know.

**And when your looks are gone and you’re alone  
How many nights you sit beside the phone?**

It was stupid, really, for Gabriel to have tailed him back to the bunker in Lebanon this cool Tuesday night. With everything going on, what were the odds he’d be welcome?

Oh sure, he’d been there to fight the Darkness in the first place, so he knew Sam would want him around for information. But that didn’t leave any consideration of the other purposes Gabriel could serve. He could be their friend. He could be their ally. He could be…well, he didn’t want to get his hopes up.

Besides, here he was, standing at the door of a warded place he wasn’t supposed to know about, about to reveal himself to people who didn’t know he was still alive, people who hadn’t really considered him a friend in the first place. It would probably be best to lie low, as he had been doing: following, helping occasionally when they wouldn’t notice, keeping the monsters in check when they weren’t able to fight.

Those were far more reasonable options.

The Winchesters wouldn’t be happy to see him.

Sam would question him. Sam wouldn’t trust him.

So why was he knocking on the door?

**What were the things you wanted for yourself?  
Teenage ambitions you remember well**

Gabriel remembered when he first met the Winchesters. Remembered how Dean’s male-model looks had put him off. Remembered how Sam’s kind heart had stood out to him, even when he was the target of their case.

Gabriel remembered his envy of the humans, a long time ago, when he had wondered why they were allowed to strive for something better and he was destined to watch them, protect them.

Gabriel remembered hearing how Sam Winchester didn’t want anything to do with hunting. He remembered hearing that Sam wanted nothing more than to have a normal life.

That was something he could relate to.

**It was the heat of the moment**  
**Telling me what your heart meant**  
 **The heat of the moment showed in your eyes**

Gabriel knocked again. He hoped Sam would answer. He hoped Dean would be elsewhere. He hoped he’d be able to explain himself to Sam in private.

He hoped Sam wouldn’t be too upset with him, too betrayed and angry to let Gabriel help.

Not that Gabriel would blame him.

**Heat of the moment**

There was a click of the lock turning over. Gabriel’s heart pounded in his chest, pounded in his throat, and felt as if it had stopped entirely.

He didn’t like the sensation.

**Heat of the moment**

A moment of silence stretched between them. Then another.

“Gabriel?” Sam asked, confused

“Hey,” Gabriel said, and his voice was weaker than he wanted it to be.

“Been a while Sam,” he said, his voice gaining traction. “Bet you’d thought you’d seen the last of me.”

“Yeah, actually,” Sam said, his brow furrowed in confusion.

**Heat of the moment showed in your eyes**

“Yeah, well,” Gabriel said. “Thought this baddie might be a little much for you guys. And you did such a good job of saving the planet last time, it didn’t seem fair to leave you hanging this time.” Gabriel hoped he was maintaining his bravado from six years ago. He was pretty sure he wasn’t.

“You left us hanging a few times,” Sam said, but he stepped aside in invitation.

Gabriel nodded as he passed Sam and looked around the foyer. “Nice place. Nicer than those motels you were staying at the last few times I saw you.”

Sam hesitated for a moment, clearly confused. “You remember those?”

Shit. Was that weird?

“I’m an Archangel. I remember a lot of things.”

**Heat of the moment**

“Why did you come back, Gabriel?” Sam asked.

Gabriel wished his heart would calm down.

“To help,” he said.

“How’d you survive?”

“Luci taught me a lot of tricks, but he forgot the best one,” Gabriel replied with a shrug. It was an evasion, he knew, but he really didn’t want to go into it.

Sam was studying him, and Gabriel couldn’t decide if he liked it or not. It certainly wasn’t helping the pounding in his chest.

“Well, I’m glad you’re back anyway,” Sam said, the suspicion in his voice dying down a few degrees.

Gabriel decided he liked the attention.

Sam seemed to realize how he sounded, and he ducked his head and added, “We can use all the help we can get.”

**Heat of the moment**

“I’m sure,” Gabriel said. “Nice job on this one, by the way.”

“I don’t feel like you came here to criticize us,” Sam said. “Or me. Or, whatever. There’ve certainly been other opportunities over the years.”

“No. No, that’s not the reason I came back,” Gabriel said, and he hated that his voice came out so quiet.

Sam stepped closer. Gabriel looked away, looked down, looked anywhere but at the hunter towering in front of him.

“So why?” Sam asked. His voice wasn’t accusing, wasn’t angry, wasn’t betrayed. His voice was curious, kind, gentle.

He sounded like Sam.

Why was that so unnerving?

**Heat of the moment**

“Where’re our brothers?” Gabriel asked. He knew it wasn’t an answer, but he knew he wouldn’t be able to do this if Cas and Dean were here. Hell, explaining himself would be nerve-wracking enough with just Sam, and he had a feeling Dean would be a little more hostile since Gabriel hadn’t helped with the past few disasters.

Sam’s brow furrowed. “They followed a trail of clues to the next state over. They’re getting the information to bring back here.”

“When will they be back?” Gabriel asked.

Now Sam’s face showed clear concern. “Probably tomorrow afternoon. What’s wrong?”

“Nothing,” Gabriel lied. He knew it was an obvious lie, since he still couldn’t quite meet Sam’s eyes.

“Bullshit,” Sam said, but he still didn’t sound angry. “Why are you here?”

“A lot of reasons. Mostly I wanted to see you.”

Another stretch of silence hung between them. Then:

“You wanted to see me? Why?”

Why? What was a good way to lead into this?

There probably wasn’t one.

“I’ve been keeping an eye on you,” Gabriel started. “I’ve seen it all.”

“You mean, you’ve been keeping an eye on us? Me and Dean and Cas?” Sam asked after a moment’s pause.

“No,” Gabriel said with a slight shake of his head. He finally looked up and stared straight into Sam’s eyes. “Just you.”

Sam was silent a moment. Then he ducked his head and turned slightly to hide his expression, but not before Gabriel noticed the amused smile playing on his lips.

But before Gabriel could come up with an excuse to get the hell out of there, Sam said, almost too quietly to hear, “I guess Dean isn’t the only one with a Guardian Angel.”

Gabriel was floored. It was a simple enough statement, but he knew what Sam’s implication was.

What he wasn’t sure of was Sam’s reaction to it.

“Call me what you will, I’m here,” Gabriel said, trying to sound nonchalant. He knew it wasn’t working.

“Yeah, well,” Sam said, moving to step beside Gabriel. “Why don’t you explain yourself in the library? Then at least I can sit down.”

As Sam passed the Angel, he put a hand on his arm. It was innocent enough, meant to be a way to lead the other man in the right direction.

Gabriel turned as he was silently instructed, but he was staring at the hand on his arm. Before he could stop himself, he reached up with his own hand to cover it.

Sam’s gait faltered and stopped, and he looked down at the hand over his own.

Gabriel thought he could see the hunter’s pulse in his throat.

**Heat of the moment**

Obviously Gabriel wasn’t thinking clearly, but he did it anyway.

He took a firmer hold on the hunter’s hand and brought it up before him. Sam didn’t pull away, didn’t really react, but Gabriel could feel the hunter’s eyes on him.

They were kind hands, not a killer’s hands. The thought made Gabriel sad, because Sam could have been something else, something gentler. And maybe it was that thought, or maybe it was the intrigue he’d felt since the day he’d first seen Sam Winchester almost a decade ago, but something made Gabriel bring the hunter’s hand closer to his face, made him press his lips to the scraped and scarred knuckles, made him show affection to this mortal man in a way he hadn’t shown affection anyone in a very, _very_ , long time.

And when he looked back up at Sam, he saw nothing but softness in those eyes.

**Author's Note:**

> Happy Tuesday!


End file.
